Racing to Change

The African American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and 1970s brought major changes to Oregon. Black communities in Portland, Eugene, and beyond participated in the fight for social and political progress. In the process, new militant voices confronted traditional organizations of power, both Black and white.

This exhibit explores the racism, exclusion, and displacement that targeted Black Oregonians, and the Black community's efforts to pursue justice.

In the 1950s, Black Oregonians gained a number of political freedoms which had been denied to them for decades. Lobbying by the NAACP, Urban League, and others helped pass the Oregon Civil Rights Bill in 1953. This law made racial discrimination in public places illegal.

In 1957, Oregon passed a Fair Housing Act, ensuring prospective renters and homeowners that they would not be denied because of their race. These laws and others opened new job and housing opportunities, however, repression, discrimination, and racist attitudes continued to affect daily life for Black Oregonians.

Meanwhile, events on the other side of the country were making headlines. In 1960, four African American college students in Greensboro, North Carolina took seats at a white lunch counter, starting a series of set-ins. Other acts of non-violent civil disobedience became common tactics nationwide. Wherever Black Americans demanded their rights, they faced white terrorism and violence.

Black and white young people were risking their lives by deliberately violating Jim Crow laws in the South to demand equal justice for Black citizens. Though far away, these actions inspired Black Oregonians.

The Black political establishment continued to lobby for improved opportunities by working within the existing system of state and local government. But younger voices proved to have a powerful influence on the direction of this growing civil rights movement.

This younger generation–more impatient and militant–would soon rise and challenge established leadership within the Black community.

A march held in Portland on September 22, 1963, brought the Civil Rights Movement even more directly home to me in Oregon. … [The march] intended to protest the murder of four little girls in a church in Birmingham, Alabama. … That march was a defining moment because it exposed to people who spoke out in support of something of great importance–civil rights–and against something horrible–the murder of innocent children. Avel Gordly, the first Black women elected to the Oregon State Senate

Oregon's Black communities banded together to fight for equal justice. Collective organizing offered greater success than individual acts of protest.

The Christian church had already been a place for Black political organizing for centuries by the time of the Civil Rights Movement. In the 1960s, religious leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King worked across denominations and religions to build coalitions against racial discrimination. The Nation of Islam blended religion and sociopolitical philosophy, and pursued racial justice without the support of people of other races and religions.

Established Black organizations like the NAACP continued to play an important role in pressuring lawmakers for change. At the same time, groups like the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) became more and more vocal about affecting change in Oregon. In Portland, Black community members suffered from a critical housing shortage. Racism also continued to deny Black workers many opportunities for a good paying job.

Eugene’s Black community also faced housing and job insecurity, as well as poor education for Black students. The establishment of the Eugene chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in 1963 was an important moment in the city's civil rights movement. CORE members gathered data on incidents of police profiling, demonstrated against racism, and tested job and housing listings for racial discrimination.

We ask only for decent respect and treatment of our Black citizens. Clyde DeBerry, President of the Eugene Chapter of CORE, 1967

By the late 1960s, Portland and Eugene each had chapters of the Black Panthers Party for Self Defense. The Black Panther Party was founded in Oakland, California in 1966 by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton. The Black Panthers rejected conciliatory civil rights action, and instead demanded justice in militant terms. Members openly carried guns and surveilled police officers.

Membership in local Black Panther chapters was small, however the Panthers created social services programs such as breakfast programs and health and dental clinics. Eugene's Black Panther Party had significant overlap with the University of Oregon's Black Student Union (BSU). While the BSU focused on issues related to campus life, the Panthers sought to address problems within the greater Black community.

Despite the Panthers’ focus on progressive social programs, the FBI and Portland police aggressively surveilled the Panthers. The mainstream press consistently depicted the Panthers as criminals.

Black community members in Portland, Eugene and elsewhere in the state were not just responding to national issues; there was significant need for reform and representation within Oregon.

Disinvestment in Portland's predominantly-Black Albina neighborhood began in the 1950s. To protect the real estate values of white homeowners, the Portland City Council rezoned large areas of N Portland from multi-family zoning to single-family zoning. Black residents had far lower incomes, and therefore most often rented apartments rather than purchased single family homes.

Even when Black families could afford to buy a house, the Federal Housing Administration routinely denied home loans to Black applicants. Instead, Black homeseekers were forced to finance mortgages with riskier lenders with higher interest. This contributed to foreclosures and property abandonment.

Black neighborhoods were also targets for demolition. Eugene's first Black community lived in an improvised village in present day Alton Baker Park. In 1949, the whole settlement was razed for the creation of the Ferry Street Bridge.

The City of Portland and the Portland Development Commission presented "urban renewal" as a progressive solution to restore neglected areas. The City condemned properties it deemed blighted and demolished them for new development. Portland also weaponized imminent domain to seize Black properties and remove them for the creation of new infrastructure projects. In 1952, 476 homes (mostly occupied by Black residents) were demolished to create Portland's Rose Quarter and Memorial Coliseum. Hundreds more Black homes were destroyed for the construction of Interstate 5 in 1962 and the never-completed expansion of Emanual Hospital beginning in 1970.

The Black Power movement began within the Civil Rights Movement during the late 1960s. "Black Power" became a rallying cry for those who saw self-reliance and self-determination as the best way for Black people to thrive in America. Proponents envisioned a future where Black Americans had power over their own local governments, businesses, schools, and community organizations. The movement scared many whites and caused tensions within some Black communities.

Some of the most prominent voices for Black power was from Black student activists on Oregon campuses. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, students pressured universities to address racial discrimination, to develop Black Studies programs, and to hire Black faculty. Students staged walkouts and acts of disruption to bring attention to these issues.

To reduce racial tensions on campus, and eradicate those inhuman acts and attitudes of racism at the University of Oregon, we, the Black students, submit the following demands, which must be acted upon immediately. University of Oregon Black students, 1968

In 1966, Black students at the University of Oregon created the Black Student Union (BSU) to foster activism regarding issues of racial discrimination on campus. The BSU promoted Black culture and history through talks, film festivals, and social events. BSUs would be founded across Oregon's colleges and high schools. Portland State University established Oregon's first Black Studies Department in 1970.

The Black Power movement was also about pride. The 1970s saw a rise in Afrocentrism within Black communities nationwide. Many Black Oregonians celebrated their heritage by changing their names and adopting a Pan-African wardrobe. The phrase “Black is Beautiful” celebrated a variety of skin colors and natural hairstyles, and affirmed the beauty and strength of African American people.

I came into adulthood at a time when “Black is beautiful” was the expression and it set a tone for my generation in terms of those of us who were politically active, in terms of how we view ourselves and how we view each other. Using the term brother and sister is still something I do. Charlotte Rutherford, community organizer and civil rights lawyer

Wherever Black Americans were standing up for their rights, there was a backlash. White supremacist political leaders used the police as agents of suppression, beating and jailing Black activists for threatening the status quo. Portland's Albina neighborhood was Oregon's most overly policed neighborhood during the 1960s. Black community members and the all-white police force. Black Portlanders made up just 5% of the city's population, by 45% of arrestees.

Where else but Albina do cops hang around the streets and parks all day like plantation overseers? Just their presence antagonizes us. We feel like we are being watched all the time. Unnamed activist, quoted in the Oregonian

Over 100 "race riots" occurred nationwide during the so-called "long hot summer" of 1967. On July 30th, a Portland group called the Committee on Black Culture hosted a "Sunday in the Park" event at Irving Park. The event was to feature an appearance by Eldridge Clever, author of Soul on Ice author, and the Minister of Information for the Black Panther Party. Portland Police were aware of the event, and sent plainclothes detectives to monitor the event.

When Clever didn't show, the crowd of about 100 people grew restless. Rumors circulated that Clever had been arrested, and a small group of militant activists began chanting anti-police slogans. Some Black youth threw rocks and bottles, and attacked a white Portland Parks Department employee who was in the vicinity.

The police response was fast. Officers quickly sealed off 30 blocks of the Albina neighborhood, preventing anyone from entering or leaving. Portland Mayor Terry Shrunk and Tom McCall met that evening. They ordered over 200 officers into Albina, and mobilized over 600 National Guardsmen to be on standby.

Hundreds of Black Portlanders took to the streets where they were met with gunshots and batons. Fires were started and several businesses were vandalized. 68 community members were arrested over a two-day period. No one was killed.

Few Black men and women felt that the police protected them, or viewed them as equals. In a 1966 survey of the Portland Police Bureau, 86% of officers said the changes prompted by the national Civil Rights Movement were “moving too fast”. This distrust was only made worse following the Albina incident in 1967.

Meanwhile, the FBI established a counterintelligence program –COINTELPRO– to surveil and infiltrate militant Black activist organizations. COINTELPRO’s goals were to propagate rumors which would create schisms within these organizations, and provoke acts of violence that would discredit the organizations to audiences sympathetic to their revolutionary ideals. The FBI and Portland police worked together to surveil the Black Panthers in Oregon.

The police justified their need to suppress disorder and crime in minority neighborhoods. Black Portlanders rejected those claims, and demanded an end to brutal police tactics and more oversight of the force. Some also called for greater representation of Black Americans within police ranks.

Occasionally police encounters turned deadly. Within a five-month span in 1975, police fatally shot four Black men: Kenny Allen, Charles Menefee, Joe Hopkins, and Rickie Charles Johnson. After the death of Johnson, who was only 17 years old, community members formed the Black Justice Committee, which pushed for a federal investigation into the Portland police.

Excluded from traditional means of power, Black Oregonians relied on grassroots organizations to better their own neighborhoods. Community activists organized for quality education and jobs and an end to police brutality and community disinvestment.

Racially restricted housing policies in the 1940s and 1950s led to a segregated school system in Portland. By 1960, 80% of African American students attended just four schools, which were each 90% Black.

In 1969, the Portland School Board implemented a plan by Superintendent Robert Blanchard to establish a 25% quota for minority students in all Portland schools. This was touted as a solution to racial segregation and education disparities between Black and white students. To achieve this, Black students from Albina would be bussed to predominantly white schools. The school board also considered closing Albina's majority-Black schools.

By 1975, 22% of Black students in Portland were being bussed to schools outside of their neighborhoods. Meanwhile, few white students had been enrolled in the majority Black schools in Albina. Parents complained that the burden of desegregation fell entirely on the Black residents, and Black students complained of alienation within the majority white schools.

The Black community responded by demanding a change to the Portland School Board's policies. In the late 1970s, leadership from the Black United Front demanded an end to all busing and reinvestment in Albina's existing schools. In 1979, community pressure led to Blanchard's firing. The Black United Front, Community Coalition for School Integration, and Portland Public Schools developed a new desegregation plan for the district.

Some Black leaders began to look for opportunities to create progress from within the political system. As political and judicial leaders, they would be able to access funding for Black communities and pressure other lawmakers to support Black causes.

Before the late 1960s, there was a near complete absence of Black representation at any level of government in Oregon. Pressure from Black activists began to change this, as lawmakers began appointing Black men and women to positions. Soon, Black candidates were also being elected to public office. 1969 marked the beginning of the first generation of Black Oregon legislators.

More than 40 Black Americans have served at all levels of local and state government since 1969 –as city councilors, mayors, police chiefs, county commissioners, sheriffs, state representatives, state senators, judges, and state supreme court justices.

More than 50 years ago, young people here in Oregon and across the country–creative, visionary, and revolutionary–began to imagine what they wanted their world to look like. A world in which political, economic, and cultural change would bring justice and equality.

While many people today would agree that strides have been made, there is still work to be done.

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change we seek.” President Barack Obama